Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

26
YAZID I
(680-683 A.D./60-64 A.H.)
On Mu’awKa’s death. Ya/.id ascended the throne according to his father’s testament. ”1 he accession of Ya/.id gave the deathstroke to the republican principle that ”the Commander of the Faithful” should be elected bv the plebiscite of the people.-a principle to which the Arabs \\ere so devoted, and which had led them to ignore the right of the Hol\ Prophet’s family to the spiritual and temporal headship of Islam. Henceforth the ruling sovereign nominated his successor, \\hose reversion he endeavoured to assure during his lifetime bv the oath of fealty of his soldiers and grandees. The celebrated doctor (Imam) Hassan of Basra, who lived towards the close of the century, declared that ”two men threw into co«*fus,ion the affairs of the Muslims-Amr the son of al-Aas. when he suggested to Mu’awi>a the lifting of the Quran on the lances, and it was so uplifted, and Mughirah. who advised Mu’awiva to take the covenant of allegiance for Ya/id. Weie it not for that, there would have been a Council of Election till the da\ of resurrection, for those v\ho succeeded Mu’awiva not followed his example in taking the covenant for their sons.”’
With the accession of Yazid bin Mu’awiva. the v erv principle of Islam was dashed to the ground. The nomination of Ya/id was sure to meet with the vehement opposition when Mu’awiva was gone. The sons of Abu Bakr and Dinar at last complied with the command of Ya/id but Abdullah bin Zuba> r who
\ivnxi All. A Short I listen o! the Saracens. P 83
Ynzid 1
36’
was iclifilamiant of the Hussain. who had legitimate claimant on th Cahplito.e after the death of Mu’awiya. according to the covenan madeby I Hasan and Mu’awia. refused to take the oath of allegiance tt Yazid IT-These two could not tolerate the supremacy of Yazid and thei escapd tl to Makkali. Hussain wa.s upright, honest, sincere and wa< notedfor -r braver>. magnanimity, piety and ability. He refused to bow downlis s head even at the risk of his life to Yazid who not onlv led a sinful seisnsual and immoral life but also used to take pride in his
vces
Tragtdyfy of Karbalah
A After ascending the throne on 1st Raj jab 60. (April 18,680 A.D.)Yasazid issued an order requiring those Medinites who had dec I id. • on previous occasions, to take the oath of fealty at his hand. Out oltheie four persons who. were hostile to him, the two Abdullah, sons ofULJmar and Abbas (the progenitor of the Abbasid Dynasty), paid lorn mage while the other two. Abdullah ibn al Zubayr and Hussai’i ili ibn Ali, escaped the grasp of the Umayyad Governor of Mediiubyoy flight to Makkah. Abdullah aimed at the Caliphate but he could »t 1 attend in the presence of Hussain who had better claim to it. Thefic ackle-minded Kufans once received Hasan turned eagerly to his bullies er Hussain and invited him to Kufah to claim his Regal right. Bis as friends at Makkah except Abdullah and a few others adviseihinim not to believe in the fickle-minded and unclingable citizen otof Kufah. But against their advice Hussain accepted the invitation and sent his cousin, Muslim ibn Aqil, to Kufah as the leadeiilaaa reconnoitering party.
On»n learning of the alliance of the Kufans with Hussain, Yazid eepuouted his cousin Ubaydullah, the Governor of Iraq, who was as harslarmnd stern in administration as his father Ziyad and who had establuiecb-d military outposts on the roads between Iraq and the Hijaz, fro-ooceeded from Basrah to Kufah to take necessary steps againstllie^e rising of Hussain. He ordered search for Muslim ibn Aqil who vis t found in the house of Hani an and. The Kufans rose againstUbd baydullah and surrounded his palace but they were soon o\ erpowreired and the Governor put Muslim ibn Aqil to death along with Him. . .
Ubdbaydullah sent a patrol party to intercept Hussain who had set outmes can while with his famil) and a small group of devoted follows ft for Kufah on 8th Dhu’l Hijjah (10th September 680). On crossinjthrlhe desert, lie received the report of the fate of Muslim.

370
Political and Cultural History of Main

There was still time to retrace his steps but the brethren of Muslim clamoured for the avenging of his execution and laid stress on the help Hussain had been promised by the Kufans. On the way he was joined by a group of Bedouins but as darker yet darker pictures were drawn by each succeeding messenger who contacted him on his march, Hussain’s followers began to drift away. He was left with about 700 able bodied persons only consisting of 30 horsemen and

40 infantrymen, excluding the female and child members of his family and a number of camp followers. He met the poet al-Farazdaq coming from Kufah, who described the state of the city in the following words, ”The heart of the city is with thee; but its sword against thee.”2

Hussain was advised to divert his course towards Aja and Salma where within a week or so he was to receive 20,000 tribesmen from Ban! Tamim but he did not do so as he did not seek combat. Soon afterwards, he met al-Hurr, a chief of Bani Tamim, with a troop of Kufan horsemen who had been deputed to take him to Ubaydullah. He advised Hussain to retreat but not to go back to Makkah. Hussain turned to the left and walked along the right bank of the Euphrates for one or two days in order to avoid the expected attack from Kufah.
Finding Hurr delayed in bringing in Hussain and his party, Ubaydullah deputed Umar. the son of the famous General Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, at the head of 4,000 horse to bring in Hussain dead or alive, promising him that he would be appointed governor of alRayy. Now overtaken by Umar, Hussain pitched his tent on the river bank near Karbalah about twenty-five miles north-west of Kufah and sixty-two miles south and south-west of Baghdad (Mada’in). Hussain disclaimed hostilities and desired to return to Makkah or to be taken to Yazid or to be sent to fight a war on any front against nonMuslims. But Ubaydullah pressed for an unconditional surrender and ordered Umar b. Sa’d to force the surrender by cutting off Hussain’s access to the river. Although even Umar was persuaded that Hussain should be taken to Yazid but Ubaydullah would not listen to him and sent Shimr ibn Dlii’l Jawshan to Umar with the message that in case he delayed action he would be replaced in command as well as in the government of al-Rayy by Shimr.
2 S.M Imamuddin. A Political Histon of the Muslims. Vol.11, Part.I, Karachi. 1984. P. 17.
Yazid I
371
Thus forced by circumstances and overwhelmed by the lust lor power, Umar surrounded the camp of Hussain. On the 10th Muharram 61 A.H./l 1th October 680 A.D., the camp was attacked and Shimr’s arrow- struck Hussain who was killed with all his companions including his two minor sons and six step-brothers and six other descendants of Abu Talib. Hussain’s little son, Zayn alAbidin, his two daughters and his sister were among the handful of sur\ ivors.
Thus fell one of the noblest spirits of the age, and with him perished all the male members of Ins family-old and young-with the solitary exception of a sickh child, whom Hussain’s sister, Zainab. saved from the general massacre. He, too bore,the name of Ali, and in after life received the designation of Zain-al-Aabidin. ”the ornament of the Pious.”1
S.M. Imamuddin says, ”They were conducted to Yazid who treated them with respect sending them on to Medina. Yazid regretted the killing of Hussain and reproached Ubaydullah for this nefarious deed and provided for the Alids generously.”4 ”In a distant age and climate, ”the tragic scene of the death of Hussain will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.” It will be now easy to understand, perhaps to sympathise with, the frenzy of sorrow and indignation to which the adherents of Hazrat Ali and of his children give vent on the recurrence of the anniversary of Hussain’s martyrdom.’